NowGamer: "A great game could be ten hours, but it rarely is," says Brothers game director Josef Fares, as he explains how games re-use assets to satisfy a criteria on how long a game should be, often set by reviewers.
Microsoft just posted the third quarter of its 2024 fiscal financial results. The software maker made $61.9 billion in revenue and a net income of $21.9 billion during Q3. Revenue is up 17 percent, and net income has increased by 20 percent.
Xbox content + services up 62% while hardware down 31%... seems about right with the way they tout you don't need the hardware to play. People can play on their phones or smart tv or other means. I don't hardly play on my consoles directly since getting devices like the logitech g-cloud and ps portal. Which is to also say I have been playing more digital than physical because of these devices.
Too expensive hardware when others offer the same or more for less? Good work, Green Team.
"Despite some early successes for Xbox games on rival platforms, Xbox hardware is down by a massive 31 percent this quarter."
"Without Activision Blizzard, Microsoft’s overall gaming revenue would have actually declined this quarter."
"Xbox content and services would have only been up a single percent without Activision Blizzard..."
"It looks like next quarter is going to be a similar story for gaming at Microsoft, too."
That is crazy... so A/B/K is carrying the whole Xbox gaming.
Oh and Microsoft will be fine. Windows, Office and Cloud are growing with each pc purchase.
As of right now, there are no monopolies in the games industry, and for the sake of the medium as a whole, they never should either.
And yet the biggest tech companies in America are essentially that. They buy up all the small comps only to kill them off and steal what they have, and if they can't buy em they bleed them to death.
They buy IPs not talent. That's why these buyouts never work and the IPs die. Right now it's too expensive to develop games - but I expect that to shift maybe as AI tools can make it easier. The best games have been indie games for awhile as big developers fuck their ips to death with "games as a service" -
INDIE Live Expo, Japan’s premiere online digital showcase series , will debut never-before-seen games & content updates across more than 100 titles on May 25th.
A game can have re-playability but a game that has a great story that sticks in your mind should be played once or twice, this story should be long but not drawn out.
Think of a book, you pay £10 for a book you want a long book with a good story, you might re read it later but really you expect a certain length behind it.
Much like a gigolo.
I don't know if it's because I'm older now with less time, but I'm starting to really enjoy shorter games with laser-focused stories. But I can see why, when people drop £40-50 on new games, reviewers need to point out if a game takes just five hours to clear.
It all comes down to value. £10 for 3-4 hours is fine for me, but £40 for the same? Nothanks.jpg
I'm all for games with shorter lengths...they just have to be priced accordingly.
I do prefer games with a decent sized campaign, as long as it doesn't have loads of filler. A great game that only lasts 6-8 hours is ok, but it's not as good as a great game that takes 20+ hours. Which is probably why rpgs are my favourite genre.